Cryptozoic Entertainment comes back with part 3 of their Crisis expansions for the DC Comics Deck-Building Game universe. I really enjoy the Crisis expansions because they add a co-op element to the game. If you have played the previous two, you know they can be extremely hard to beat, but you always felt you have a chance to win. That is why it is some of my favorite expansions for any game and why I was excited to get my hands on this new expansion. Crisis 3 has us fighting during the Forever Evil story line in DC Comics. The characters that are added in this expansion are villains and they are fighting against heroes turned villains from an alternate universe. Can Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Harley Quinn, and Deathstroke work together to defeat Ultraman, Superwoman, Power Ring, and the Outsider? You will have plenty of new tricks to use, but with those tricks, comes a price. If this sounds exciting, then I encourage you to read my take on Crisis 3.

Components Crisis 3 is a smaller expansion than what you would receive in a core set, but more than what you get in the crossover packs. Crisis 3 brings 8 oversized Crisis Super-Villain cards and 6 oversized Super-Villain cards representing the Suicide Squad. This expansion also contains 15 new bosses, 15 new crisis cards, and 18 cards added to the main deck. Each card fits in the Forever Evil timeline, but you can play with any core set that you own. Crisis 3 also brings back more frozen and VP tokens from Forever Evil. The final 9 cards are hidden objective cards that are for a new play mode that I will explain later on. The rule book does a good job of setting up the various game types and explains questions you may have on certain cards. The rule book does a good job of highlighting new rules for Crisis 3. Overall I am pleased with the amount of new additions this expansion provides.

What is new with this expansion? Instead of my usual explanation of how the game plays, I wanted to explain what is new with this expansion. Normally the Crisis expansions give you new heroes, villains, and crisis cards to expand the co-op play of this series. In Crisis 3, you can play co-op like you are used to in the previous games, but there is a new Hidden Objective Crisis mode. This sets up slightly easier when it comes to how many Super Villains and crisis cards you are against, but each player is also playing for their own special victory on top of the group victory. At the start of the game each player will be given a hidden objective card that will give you specific criteria to meet to become the overall victor. There is even a traitor card that wants everyone to lose. Other hidden objectives are having only 3 types of cards in your deck or a certain number of high cost cards in your deck. So while everyone is working together, you are never quite sure if you want a card to go to one of your teammates, because it might help them win their hidden objective. To win you still have to defeat all the crisis cards and Super Villains (unless your the traitor), but doing so while not allowing your teammates to get too powerful adds a new layer of difficulty and theme. The other big addition to crisis mode is how players contribute towards the crisis. Before, your team had to defeat all the villains in the line up before you could start working on the crisis. Now, during a player's turn they can contribute cards to the crisis (as long as they meet the criteria), even while villains are in the line up. You can not complete the crisis until all villains have been removed but this allowed your team to have everything ready to defeat the crisis once the villains are gone. While that may make things easier, this is still a very hard crisis expansion that I have yet to win. Granted I have only beat Crisis 1 once and not beaten the second one yet.

Final Thoughts I am a DC Comics fan for a long time and have enjoyed the deck-building series. The crisis expansions are some of my favorite expansions and made the deck-building game better with the co-op variant. Now Crisis 3 adds the hidden objective co-op mode that is awesome. Nothing like adding a hidden traitor feel to the game. This fits so well with playing as villains like Lex Luthor or Sinestro. Villains never trust anyone they team up with. You may work together towards a greater good but in the end you want to come out the strongest. Contributing to crisis cards while villains are in play is great. Nothing was more frustrating than finally getting the villains out of the line up but now the crisis sticks around because you can't get those cards you need to finish it. The new cards add a nice blend of helping and hurting your teammates. The use of victory points from the Forever Evil set, to use abilities or make cards stronger is a great addition that is back. While Crisis 3 works best thematically with Forever Evil, Cryptozoic has added rules that make playing with any core set work nicely. If you are a fan of the series, then this is a must buy. If you wanted more out of your core sets, then this does that with 2 new modes. Luckily everything still fits in my core set box with an organizer that I purchased online, but I fear that I may not be able to add anymore in the future. I hope Cryptozoic comes out with a big box type expansion that provides storage for everything. Crisis 3 adds 2 challenging co-op modes that will keep you playing this game for a long time.